An electrical appliance having a machine module and a cooler module, a machine module for an electrical appliance such as this, as well as a set comprising a plurality of cooler modules for assembly with a machine module such as this.
The invention relates to an electrical appliance. The invention also relates to a machine module for an electrical appliance and to a set comprising a plurality of cooler modules for assembly with a machine module.
An electrical appliance of the type mentioned initially is known from JP 60-219 939 A. There, the electrical appliance has a heat exchanger through which a flow passes along a zigzag path, starting from the first cooling fluid connection zone, to the second cooling fluid connection zone. The cooling of known electrical appliances such as these is in each case matched to the machine module that is used. As soon as it is found that a specific cooling technique is no longer adequate for the machine module, the cooling for the electrical appliance must be completely redesigned.
One object of the present invention is therefore to refine an electrical appliance of the type mentioned initially in such a manner that it is possible to satisfy changing cooling requirements with less construction and design effort.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by an electrical appliance having a) a machine module which includes an electrical machine with a stator and a rotor, a machine housing, which holds the electrical machine, and b) a cooler module, including a cooler housing which is connected for fluid flow purposes via a first cooling fluid connection zone in a housing wall of the machine housing, and at least one second cooling fluid connection zone in the housing wall of the machine housing to the interior of the machine housing, wherein the interior of the machine housing can be connected for fluid flow purposes, in a section of the housing wall which faces the cooler housing, via at least one third cooling fluid connection zone by means of at least one cooling fluid aperture opening to the interior of the cooler housing.
According to the invention, it has been found that different variants of the cooling air guidance in the machine housing can be provided by the specific configuration of the machine housing of the machine module with three cooling fluid connection zones. These different cooling air guidance variants can then be combined with appropriate cooler modules, so that it is possible to take account of individual cooling requirements. The electrical appliance according to the invention can thus be equipped with different cooling techniques for the respective cooler module, without any need to make any physical changes for this purpose to the machine module, in particular without having to make any physical changes to the machine housing. By way of example, the following cooling techniques can be implemented with the same machine housing, just by adaptation of the cooler module: open air cooling from both ends of the electrical machine, closed air cooling with an air-air heat exchanger from both ends of the electrical machine, closed air cooling with an air-water heat exchanger from both ends of the electrical machine, open air cooling flowing longitudinally through the electrical machine, closed air cooling flowing longitudinally through the electrical machine with an air-air heat exchanger, closed air cooling flowing longitudinally through the electrical machine with an air-water heat exchanger. The cooler module either has only the function of cooling fluid guidance or includes active cooling elements such as heat exchangers. A standardized machine housing can be used for all of these cooling techniques. An electric motor, or alternatively a generator, may be used as the electrical machine.